Former World Champion PV Sindhu and world no 8 HS Prannoy chalked out straight-game victories over their respective rivals to move into the second round of the Indonesia Open badminton at the Istora Senayan sports arena, in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Sindhu, will now face world No. 3 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, who is also the defending Indonesia Open champion, in round two.
Ranked 13th in the BWF ranking Sindhu took a sweet revenge as she defeated local challenger Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-19,21-15 in this BWF World Tour Super 1000 event, to end her two-match losing streak against the Indonesian.
World No. 9 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung had beaten Sindhu in the Madrid Spain Masters final and in the Semifinals of the Malaysia Masters
Two-time Olympic medallist and Mariska Tunjung went toe-to-toe in the first game with the lead exchanging hands several times. With the game tied at 14-all, the Indian upped her game and won five straight points to take the lead despite some closely-fought rallies.
The second game was less complicated as the Indian dominated Mariska Tunjung and sealed the match with ease.
In the men’s singles Prannoy, recorded a 21-16, 21-14 victory over world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the first round .He will face world No. 16 Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong, who defeated two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan in round 1.
In the women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost 22-20, 12-21, 16-21 to Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi in their opening match.
This was Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand’s fourth straight first-round loss in BWF World Tour tournaments this season.
Meanwhile, in men’s doubles, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy made it to the second round after their French opponents, Christo and Toma Junior Popov, had to retire from the first-round crash. The Indian pair was leading 21-12, 11-7 when Christo injured his knee.
However, other Indian pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, crashed out after a 21-12, 6-21, 20-22 defeat to the world No. 7 pair Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi.